


never meant to survive

by TolkienGirl



Series: All That Glitters Gold Rush!AU: The Full Series [354]
Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Coda to chap 2 of steadfast as the hills of stone, Dark Humor, Gen, Gold Rush AU, Surgical implements, nobody is fine, pessimism, tensions are high, title from Audre Lorde
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:33:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29750694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TolkienGirl/pseuds/TolkienGirl
Summary: “What did Fingon want?”Celegorm is tall enough and broad enough to block the door of the smithy, and all the light that comes through it. Yet Curufin is tempted to shield his eyes from his brother’s glare.(He doesn’t.)
Relationships: Celegorm | Turcafinwë & Curufin | Curufinwë
Series: All That Glitters Gold Rush!AU: The Full Series [354]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1300685
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	never meant to survive

“What did Fingon want?”

Celegorm is tall enough and broad enough to block the door of the smithy, and all the light that comes through it. Yet Curufin is tempted to shield his eyes from his brother’s glare.

(He doesn’t.)

“He needed me to make something,” he replies, bending the steel switch in his hands. He will have to fit it to Maedhros’ leg exactly, along with another to match, which promises to be an unpleasant undertaking. And that is before he determines, with Fingon, how the pin should be put in. _Through_.

Curufin would rather have cut off the damnable hand than deliberate over such questions.

Curufin would have killed Maedhros where he hung, but that’s a chance past.

“Make what?” Celegorm demands.

“A brace to screw into our invalid brother’s thigh-bone, as near as I can understand it.” There is no point in mincing words with Celegorm.

Celegorm looks like—looks _Scotch_ angry. “The fuck you will.”

“Fuck yourself, Celegorm,” Curufin says mildly. “I said I’ll do it, and I mean to.”

“Because you gave your word to that sniveler?”

“Fingon doesn’t snivel.” Curufin twirls a nail between his thumb and forefinger, still thinking with the working side of his mind despite his keen awareness that Celegorm’s fist is preparing to rearrange some delicate and important bones.

Ironic, that, but Curufin isn’t fool enough to point it out. Instead, he continues,

“He sweats and pontificates, but he doesn’t snivel. You know that. And no, of course not. I don’t give two licks for Fingon’s good opinion.”

Celegorm’s face contorts. Curufin pretends that he does not recognize how close his brother is to tears. “Then why?” Celegorm rasps.

“Because it is the only way that Maedhros will live.”

Silence, from Celegorm. As expected.

Curufin says, “Fingon is a ninny, but he’s right. Maedhros is a cripple twice-over. How long do you think he’ll survive in the wild?”

“We’re not in the wild,” Celegorm mutters, stubborn as ever. Curufin notices that Huan isn’t with him. 

“The wild isn’t a place, it’s a way of life.” Curufin smiles to himself, though his stomach is sour. “The way I see it, we can offer him a bullet to the head, or a brace for his leg. Everything else is more cruelty. Sniveling cruelty.”

His brother does not argue the point. Curufin decides on the thickness of the pin—he made three—and begins to sharpen it.


End file.
